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Another Air BnB project is moving forward in Buckingham County. During their Monday, Sept. 23 meeting, the county’s planning commission voted to recommend approval of the request for a conditional use permit on Woodland Church Road. 

Karen Kreps owns land at 504 Woodland Church Road. She told the commission the goal was eventually to live at the property herself, but in the meantime, to use it as a short-term rental. 

“I sort of see it as a retirement home for me,” Kreps, who lives in Austin, Texas, said. “I come as often as I can to visit. I want to generate a little passive income and keep the house healthy and repaired while I’m not here.”  

The property on Woodland Church Road is in a village center zoning district, which doesn’t allow rental properties as a ‘by-right’ use, so Kreps needs a special use permit for that. The Austin, Texas resident says she’s been affiliated with the Yogaville community since before it was founded in Virginia and likes to come back and visit a couple times a year. 

Kreps told the commission she wasn’t looking to rent to anyone for an extended period of time. This would be open, if approved, to a group of no more than six people, with parties and outdoor fires banned. There is also a walking trail on the property, Kreps pointed out, so that visitors can enjoy the outdoors without bothering neighbors or trespassing. She acknowledged that there are short-term rental fees in place and said she’ll be using a company to make sure she pays the correct amount to the right municipality. 

Difference between Air BnB cases

There are two key differences between this request and the one that played out over the summer in Buckingham. The first is that this one deals with short-term rentals, rather than longer tenants. The second is there’s no zoning request attached. As part of the work over the summer, Ivan Petersheim also put in a request to change Buckingham County zoning, so that a multi-family housing duplex would be allowed as a special use in any Agricultural A1 Zoning District throughout the county.

It was that text amendment request that caused the planning commission members to recommend against approval and a majority of supervisors to refuse to move forward, as both groups pointed out there was nothing in the wording about limiting the number of families allowed or any regulation at all. This case, by comparison, is just a simple request for a special use permit.

It will now go to the Buckingham board of supervisors for consideration at their meeting next month.